Praying for damaged World Heritage


  • Photographer
    ATSUSHI TAKETAZU
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
  • Date of Photograph
    October,2011

In early September 2011, Typhoon No. 12 struck the Kii Peninsula JAPAN, causing a huge amount of damage. Three Shinto shrines and ancient pilgrimage roads designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites were not spared the typhoon's wrath, but efforts to repair them are under way. People continue praying and tackle recovery work in a stricken area. Kumano Hongu Taisha shrine, Kumano Hayatama Taisha shrine and Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine in Wakayama Prefecture, along with ancient roads that connect the shrines--known as Kumano Kodo--are part of a heritage site known as the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range." Soon after the typhoon hit the peninsula, the grounds of Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine in Nachi-Katsuuracho were flooded by a muddy torrent. The typhoon triggered a landslide on a hill behind the shrine, leaving the main building surrounded by dirt and rocks. Kumano Hayatama Taisha shrine in Shingu was preparing for an annual grand festival when the typhoon hit. Floodwaters from the Kumanogawa river swept away an otabisho--a structure in which a portable shrine is temporarily enshrined during a festival. Although priests at the shrine considered reducing the scale of the grand festival, in the end they decided to go ahead and hold it as usual. "It is precisely because of the typhoon that we need to now pray for the souls of the victims and for recovery," one said. So after hastily setting up a makeshift otabisho, the shrine successfully held the annual festival on Oct. 15 and 16. The typhoon also severed Kumano Kodo--a set of pilgrimage roads that run through the Kii Mountain Range and connect the shrines--in several places. Local governments are now discussing rebuilding the roads and creating detours to bypass the damaged areas. The area in which the three temples and other holy sites are located is known as the Kumano region. For hundreds of years it has been a place of worship and a source of emotional support for many people.

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